Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s political situation has deteriorated after her defeat in the assembly elections. After initially losing control of the state government, he is gradually losing control of the Trinamool Congress party. The root cause of the crisis within the party is its own rebel MLA Ritabrata Banerjee. Ritabrata Banerjee has now bid for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly. He said the party has full support of 60 out of 80 MLAs. This incident has now exposed the intense power struggle within the Trinamool Congress.
MLAs supporting Ritabrata Banerjee have already submitted a formal letter to the Assembly Speaker. In this letter, they formally expressed their support for the appointment of Ritabrata as the Leader of the Opposition. However, the group of rebel legislators made it clear that they are not trying to divide the party. They still recognize and remain loyal to Mamata Banerjee as the supreme leader of the party.
The internal crisis of the party has started with the leader of the opposition in the assembly. Two Trinamool Congress MLAs Sandeep Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee alleged that their signatures were forged on a letter proposing to make Sobvandev Chatterjee the Leader of the Opposition. They are in the Parliament Secretariat You can file a complaint. These serious allegations created extreme discomfort and agitation among the top leadership of the party. Two MLAs have been expelled from the party on charges of anti-party activities. But despite being expelled from the party, Ritabrata Banerjee did not back down and openly led the rebellion and now asserts his right to lead the party in the Assembly.
Ritabrata Banerjee has been an active and well-known figure in West Bengal politics for a long time. His political career started from the stage of student politics. Earlier, he served as the General Secretary of the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) for a long time. After leading the student body for almost eight years, the Left sent him to the Rajya Sabha. However, he was later expelled from the party due to differences with the Left party leadership. Then Ritabrata Banerjee, who became an MLA for the first time, joined the Trinamool Congress, now emerging as a very powerful and influential leader within the party. Currently Arup RoySeveral prominent MLAs including Shiuli Saha, Arunabh Sen, Barnali Dhara, Usharani Mondal and Niamat Shaikh extended their full support to him.
Political experts say the whole incident could pose a big and tough challenge for Mamata Banerjee. But the rebel MLAs do not want to break the partyYet the support claim of 60 MLAs shows a deep organizational crisis within their party If this huge numerical strength is proved on the floor of the Assembly, the whole issue of electing the Leader of the Opposition will become legally and politically very complicated. So far, the official response of the party leadership on this sensitive issue has been very limited but the crisis has already created a new political equation in West Bengal politics and has been widely discussed.